Lawn mower grass compressor



Aug. 1, 1950 G. MUZZY LAWN MOWER GRASS COMPRESSOR Filed March 16, 1948INVENTOR. 621 M21254,

A'I'I'D RNEYB Patented Aug. 1, 1950 awnmower: RAssooMPREssoa I GuyMuzzy, Oakland, Calif.; assignor of one-half 1, .to Orpha V; Wible,Erie, Pa.

it This invention relates to attachments for lawn mowers that areprovided with hoppers 'for catching and carrying grass as it is cut, andin particular a blade pivotally attached to the under side of the handleof a lawnmower, positioned tojfjent'er hopper suspended behind the mowerand compress grass caught therein, and alever for actuating the bladefrom a point adjacent the end of the handle ofthe mower andalso forlocking the blade upward against the under side of the handle. Thepurpose of this invention is to provide means for moving cut grass in ahopper attached to a lawn mower toward the rear of the hopper andcompressing the grass therein while the mower is in operation.

Various types of grass collecting hoppers have been provided for lawnmowers and whereas these carry a small amount of grass they are not useduniversally because the grass piles or accumulates directly behind thecutting blades and if the hopper is made relatively large it isnecessary to stop the mower and move the grass toward the rear of thehopper at frequent intervals. With this thought in mind this inventioncontemplates a device for moving and compressing the grass in the rearof a grass receiving hopper attached to a lawn mower while the mower isin use.

The object of this invention is, therefore to provide an attachment thatmay readily be mounted on the under side of a handle of a lawn mowerthat may be acuated from the outer end of the handle to push grass cutby the mower backward in a hopper positioned be hind the cutting bladesand under the handle of the mower.

Another object of the invention is to provide an attachment forcompressing cut grass in the rear portions of hoppers suspended behindthe cutting blades of lawn mowers that may be installed on mowers now inuse.

A further object of the invention is to provide a grass compressingattachment for grass receiving hoppers of lawn mowers which is of asimple and economical construction.

With these and other objects and advantages in view the inventionconsists of the new and novel combination, construction, and arrangementof parts as hereinafter more fully described, set forth in the claimappended hereto, and disclosed in the accompanying drawings forming parthereof, wherein:

Figure l is a view showing a side elevation of a lawn mower with thegrass compressing blade attached to the under side of the handle andwith a grass collecting Application Math 16, 1948, Serial 15, 227

1 Claim. (01. 56-199) 2 hopper positioned behind the cutting blades. I tFigure 2 is aplan view of the compressor blade with the mounting strapthereon and with the other parts omitted.

Figure 3 is a cross section through the handle of the mower taken online 3-'3 of Figure 1. Figure l is" also a cross section through thehandleof themower taken on line 4-4 of Figure 1, showing the pivotalmounting of the blade on the handle of the mower.

Figure 5 is a detail showing a latch for h0lding the upper end of theblade control rod.

Referring now to the drawings wherein like reference characters denotecorresponding parts the compressor blade for lawn mower grass receivinghoppers of this invention includes a blade it, an actuator rod II, and a.latch i2,

and the blade is positioned on the under side of a handle l3 of a lawnmower M.

The blade It is formed of a rectangular-shaped plate having ribs orcorrugations l5 and ['6 therein to reinforce the intermediate portionsthereof and the lower corners are substantially square whereas the plateis provided with arcuate upper corners H and 18. A strap I9 with areinforcing rib Zil therein is attached to the blade II] by rivets 2|and the upper end of the strap i rolled to form a hub 22 by which theblade is pivotally attached to the handle It by a clevis 23 which haseyes 24 and 25 at the ends. The clevis is attached to the handle byscrews 26, as shown in Figure 4, and the pivotal mounting is positionedso that the lower edge of the plate or blade Ill will just clear theupper surface of the bottom 21 of a grass receiving hopper 28, which issuspended from the handle l3 by rods 29 with the lower edge thereof heldon the shaft 30 of the roller 3| by hooks 32.

A clip 33 is positioned in the center of the upper edge of the blade It]and the actuator red I I is connected thereto through an eye 34 at theend of the rod. The upper end of the rod II is slidably held in anopening through a flange 35 on the lower side of the latch l2, and theend 36 of the rod, which extends outwardly, is positioned to engage afiange 3'7 on the upper side of the latch, as shown in Figure 5, to holdthe rod downward with the blade II] against the under surface of thehandle, as shown in Figure 1. The latch 12 is secured on the undersurface of the handle by screws 38.

With the parts arranged in this manner the blade IE! is normally heldagainst the under surface of the lawn mower handle by the actuator 3 rodH with the upper end thereof held by the latch member l2, and when it isdesired to move grass back in the hopper the end 36 of the rod I l issprung upward over the flange 31, and with this end used as a handle theblade may be pulled backward as indicated by the dotted lines in Figure1, so that the cut grass may be moved away from the cutting blades andcompressed in the back of the hopper. The parts may be made offanysuitable material and the sizes thereof may be varied so that the devicemay be used on substantially any type of mower.

It will be understood that modifications may be made in the design orarrangement-er '15 parts without departing from the-spirit of" theinvention.

What is claimed is: I H p n In a cut grass attachment ram la mews-rhaving a handle and a spacing roller, the combination which comprises agrass receiving hop- Q I q fiiq edje ed.th im we W the o ward lower edgecarried by the spacing roller slp ia and. w th he ma ,v per pn su p d hiWe i 9nit., hei wd ae re an r shaped blade having reinforcing ribstherein and y 25 having a centrally disposed strap withareinforcingrihthreineitended from upper edge, a clevis 'a v rodpositioned below and as 'eli i a se o t na withth'e ends of therod'secured 'to'the sides of 4 t the handle by screws, said strap of theblade having a rolled upper end positioned around the round rod of theclevis for suspending the blade in the hopper, a latch comprising aplate secured to the lower surface of the handle and spaced from the endthereof, said plate having an extended end with spaced upwardly extendedupper and lower flanges thereon and said lower flange having-an openingtherethrough; and a ifod'slidably mouiited in thebpenlh'g' in" the lowerflange of the latch with the lower end of the rdd pivotally attached tothe upper edge of the blade and with the upper end of the rod extended(inwards-providing a handle, said handle positioned to engage-the upperflange 0f the latch to retain the rod in the position of holding theblade against the under surface of the handle.

GUY MUZZY.

REFERENCES CITED The'followingreferencesare of record in the file'pfthis patent:

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